


The Un-Case of the Dapper Diplomat

by gardnerhill



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/886419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some illustrious clients are just boring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Un-Case of the Dapper Diplomat

**Author's Note:**

> For JWP 2013 Prompt #16: **Viewer's Choice:** Use one of the following pictures as the inspiration for today's entry (or if you're really brave, use both!): Choice #1: [Lighthouse](http://www.jean-guichard.com/photos/france/brittany-finistere/ouessant/la-jument-00012) / Choice #2: [Tom Ford suit ](http://wpc.4d27.edgecastcdn.net/004D27/2013/MoviePremiere/ArmieHammerTomFordTheLoneRanger/Armie+Hammer+The+Lone+Ranger+Tom+Ford+2.jpg)

Although Sherlock Holmes was drawn to a case based strictly on how it piqued his love of all that was bizarre and unusual, and not on the mere name of the client who approached him, he was not above taking such cases if they did, indeed, provide points of interest to him – as in the cases I have previously recorded as “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Illustrious Client.”

When an impeccably-dressed Embassy official approached my friend, however, it was for the merest of tawdry intrigues – the Honorable Henry Alfred wished the prestige of hiring my equally-illustrious friend as a vulgar snoop into his wife’s dalliances.

“I am sure the local constabulary will be happy to provide you with any detective working there,” Holmes responded abruptly, turning his back on the man. He had not even dressed for his visitor, but lounged languidly on the divan in his satin-blue robe, barefoot – the very picture of insolence to a man accustomed to respect, and his untidy attire was even more pronounced beside our visitor’s immaculate lilac suit with its whimsical lapels and bold tie.

The man’s face turned red, but his words were utter cool civility – whatever else the man was, he had earned his position honestly through his command of his own temperament. “You disappoint me, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. I had heard much that was good about your methods and have heard your praises from the very highest. I may safely assume that a doubling of your normal rate will not sway your mind.”

I did not change my expression, but whimsically thought that a thousand times my friend’s rate would find him as adamant as ever, as if all the man’s efforts were a violent sea dashing against an immovable lighthouse.

“You assume correctly, Mr. Henry Alfred.” Holmes sat up. “I do not take marital infidelity cases. Again, I reiterate that Scotland Yard has any number of decent men who will more readily fit your bill – I can give you the names of the best of them, at the very least.”

The diplomat was not happy; I could see how both hands gripped his walking stick white-knuckled. “That will have to do,” he said levelly, through his teeth. “I appreciate your candour, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.”

“Pray do not mention it,” Holmes said in as flat a tone, rising to his bare feet – and it was no empty courtesy but an actual request to not speak of the matter again.

When the diplomat – who would in later years become the Consul-General of Beirut, Syria, and Lebanon – left Baker Street in a handsome carriage, Holmes sighed. “His wife is conducting an affair, but she is tiring of the novelty; she will soon separate from her paramour, as she is far more enamoured of her comfortable life as the spouse of an ambitious politician. There is no need to waste my time nor a client’s money on an infidelity that will soon be no infidelity at all – nor supply you with a story that can be read in a respectable publication like the _Strand._ ”

I laughed with him. “He is a diplomat through and through. He should rise far.”

“My perception as well.” Holmes looked down at the card that bore the name of the Honorable Henry Alfred Cumberbatch. “However, I can safely say that neither of us was impressed with the other.”

**Author's Note:**

> The Honorable Henry Alfred Cumberbatch was indeed Consul-General in the Middle East during Victorian and Edwardian times, and is the grandfather of actor Timothy Carlton and great-grandfather of Benedict. The marital infidelity, however, is completely fictional.


End file.
